DEVOURED
Bank of Italy Deputy Governor Chiara Scotti wants the EU to tokenize SEPA, Europe's €116 trillion payment network, rather than wait for the digital euro to materialize.
What: Chiara Scotti proposed a 'tokenized extension of SEPA,' arguing Europe's payment framework processed €116 trillion in non-cash transactions in H1 2025 and offers the scale, standards, and interoperability needed for tokenized infrastructure. She framed this as complementary to digital euro development, noting stablecoins and tokenized deposits serve legitimate use cases but have unclear broader monetary implications.
Why it matters: European central banks are treating tokenization as a practical infrastructure upgrade to existing payment rails, not waiting for central bank digital currencies. This dual-track approach suggests they see more near-term value in layering programmable money onto proven infrastructure than in building new central bank money from scratch.
Decoder
- SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area): EU payment network enabling standardized euro transfers across 36 countries with instant settlement and shared technical formats.
- Tokenized deposits/payments: Bank-backed funds represented as blockchain tokens, enabling programmable money and atomic settlement without requiring new central bank currencies.
Original article
Bank of Italy Deputy Governor Chiara Scotti said the EU should develop a "tokenized extension of SEPA," arguing that Europe's existing payment framework, which processed €116 trillion in non-cash transactions in H1 2025, provides a strong foundation for tokenized infrastructure given its scale, shared standards, and interoperability. Scotti framed this as complementary to the ongoing digital euro work, noting that while stablecoins and tokenized deposits serve legitimate use cases, their broader monetary implications are "less clear."
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